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Re: Unscrambling the pieces

Interesting info on the beginnings of Eckankar. However, there are some details that were left out. One detail left out is that Harold Klemp lists Twitchell s

Message 1 of 2
, Sep 6, 2011

Interesting info on the beginnings
of Eckankar. However, there are
some details that were left out.

One detail left out is that Harold
Klemp lists Twitchell's birth year
(on the copyright page of the
Combined Shariyats) as 1908.
And, since Klemp is the Mahanta
he has special insight and powers
that only a God could begin to
understand.

Thus, HK's word is irrefutable even
though there may actually be factual
physical evidence that points to
a different conclusion. Really, how
could a 14th Initiate and Mahanta
ever be wrong about anything
when he's able to travel through
time and space of the lower Planes
via his Soul Body and view all records
via the Mahanta Consciousness?

BTW-In Klemp's first EK Lexicon
he gives Twitchell's birthday as
October 22. This, coincidentally,
is also when the Rod of ECK Power
is passed to a new Living EK Master
and is considered the start of a
new spiritual year. It's also the
date used to end or begin new
positions within the ESC/RESA
Hierarchy.

Interesting, though, that Paul
was able to be born on such
an auspicious day as Oct. 22nd
... when ECK Masters are handed
the Rod of ECK Power. Or did
Paul create the Passing of the
Rod to correspond with his
birthday? I guess we'll never
know for sure? But which makes
more sense?

Prometheus

[alt.religion.eckankar repost - 09/04/11]

Unscrambling the Pieces

Paul loved his privacy. Early in his youth he was involved in a
variety of activities, but he made it a point to obscure any facts
associated with his life. In so doing, he left a trail so clouded that
it's going to take our historians years to piece it together. [....]

There are several different versions of the date Paul was born into
this life. One person I talked to said the Twitchell family Bible
recorded the year as 1910; another person, who also told me he'd seen
the family Bible, said Paul's birthdate was shown as 1908. It's
amazing how certain each person was that he knew the truth. Each one
claimed to have seen it with his own eyes. So by some accounts, he was
born on October 23, 1908 or 1910, while other accounts give the date
as October 22.

How about 1909? Based on the Kentucky Census (believed conducted in
the spring)of 1910 suggesting that Paul was 6 months old?

OK. Why does this stuff even matter? Perhap's it's all about
unscrambling the pieces and determining fact from fiction.

Researching the lineage of Eck Masters, or when Paul Twitchell came to
contact an Eck Master, one is naturally drawn to the mid 1930's

"Paul first met Rebazar Tarzs in 1951 in the foothills of the
Himalayas near Darjeeling. Before that on his first trip to India in
1935, he met Sudar Singh. We are still looking for information on
Sudar Singh. We have gotten a lot of reports about an individual named
Sundar Singh, who is not the same person at all.

"Somebody asked Paul why he didn't simply look into the ECK-Vidya
whenever he needed to know something. He said he didn't want to take
all the surprise and adventure out of life. I feel the same way. It's
more fun to find out yourself rather than be told. This is why the ECK
initiates go out and find material about Sudar Singh themselves."

". . . I found this to be true of Sudar Singh, the strange mystic of
Allahabad, in the summer of 1938, when I visited him with my step-
sister." [Based on: ECKANKAR-The Key to Secret Worlds, by Paul
Twitchell, Chap. 10, 3rd paragraph]

1938 was later edited out. See 1988 version, p. 169-170.

". . . I found this to be true of Sudar Singh, the strange mystic
of Allahabad, the summer I visited him with my half sister."

What is wrong with this picture? Paul Twitchell was apparently NOT a
teenager in the mid 1930's but, in fact, had already graduated high
school and been to college already!

How could Paul Twitchell have been a teenager when he (reportedly)
went to Paris, France? Or later stayed at Sudar Singh's ashram in
India for about a year?

Unscrambling the pieces? For heaven's sake! What pieces?

"It was upon their return to Paris that Paul met Sudar Singh for the
first time. The Indian holy man was lecturing in France in an effort
to gain sincere disciples."

"[...] Sudar Singh was silent for several moments before he spoke. 'Am
I to understand that you would like to return with me to my spiritual
retreat in Allahabad?'
" 'That is my wish,' Kay-Dee said emphatically. 'Paul?' [....] Kay-
Dee and Paul lived in Sudar Singh's ashram for nearly a year before
the irate Grands managed to haul them home."

"This year in India was not spent totally in an attitude of holy
learning. Paul had reached his sixteenth birthday [1925?], and he
decided that he needed a furlough from the ashram. He traveled to
Bombay, put up in a hotel, and then set out in search of a holy man
who Sudar Singh had said was extremely wise in the ways of God."

Brad Steiger's book most likely introduced a number of people to Paul
Twitchell and Eckankar for the first time. However, Paris, Kentucky
(where Paul Twitchell's sister allegedly DID go to college) is NOT
Paris, France! And for those who might argue it was an "inner"
journey, that is NOT how the context reads in the book I quoted from.
Including the stay in an ashram for nearly a year.

I have a question. Why didn't Harold Klemp consult the "mahanta
consciousness" to determine Paul Twitchell's actual D.O.B.? Why didn't
he do the research and consult the 1910 Kentucky Census? Umm ... or
why hasn't the latest research about Paul Twitchell's birthdate been
added to the official Eckankar website instead of Harold Klemp's 1984
reference to 1908, or 1910? If the 1909 D.O.B. is the correct year,
then why isn't it there? After a quick scan of pages about Paul
Twitchell at the official Eckankar website I found the year 1909
mentioned NADA times!

Is it really more fun to find out yourself - rather than be told -
about the life of Paul Twitchell and his contacts with Eckankar
Masters, etc.? If that were the case then why did Paul Twitchell and
other Eck Masters write about and tell people already about all these
things? In order to keep the pieces scrambled and just so people could
have fun unscrambling them?

My understanding is that it's incumbent on the leader of Eckankar, the
Living Eck Master, to update the teachings of Eckankar. Problem is,
how does one unscramble the pieces of their predecessors? Especially
the founder? Apparently, it is incumbent upon the members of Eckankar
too - not to mention anybody reading about Eckankar period - to
unscramble some of the pieces.

What has it led to? What the result of people attempting to unscramble
the pieces?